humanitarianism

In 1898, President McKinley called for war with Spain to liberate Cuba from the “barbarities, bloodshed, starvation, and horrible miseries now existing there”—offering a humanitarian justification that has underpinned other interventions, from Haiti in 1915 to Libya in 2011. But in 1994, President Clinton took a stance against intervening in Rwanda, even as the scale of the humanitarian crisis there became clear. As we mark the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, BackStory takes on the history of humanitarian intervention.

With President Obama making the case for military action against Syria, BackStorytakes on the history of humanitarian intervention. In 1898, President McKinley called for war with Spain to liberate Cuba from the “barbarities, bloodshed, starvation, and horrible miseries now existing there” – offering the kind of humanitarian rhetoric that has come up time and time again in American history, justifying numerous interventions around the world – from Haiti in 1915 to Libya in 2011. But where does the idea of a humanitarian obligation originate?